Deviate Van Life before #VanLife (encore): Revisiting a classic USA road trip
“I will never have another vagabonding journey that compares to that first one — even though I have since traveled to far more exotic parts of the world — in part because there’s something special about embarking on a long-term trip for the first time.” –Rolf Potts
In this encore episode of Deviate, Rolf and his old friend Jeff talk about their 8-month van trip across North America back in 1994, how they prepared for it, and how it differed from current-day #VanLife excursions (5:30); how they exercised on the road, and how the conditions and travel-hacks of van journeys were different for two young men in 1994 (23:30); the route they took through North America, what happened along the way, and how they kept daily journals recounting events (36:00); the experience riding with cops in Houston, celebrating Mardi Gras in New Orleans, volunteering at a church in Mississippi, meeting girls in Florida, and seeing New York for the first time (51:00); the experience of staying at a Trappist monastery in Massachusetts for one week (1:14:30); visiting National Parks in the American South, Northeast, and West, and memorable books read along the way (1:28:00); and why the trip was life-changing (1:42:00).
Van trip preparation and planning links:- Digital nomadism (travel lifestyle)
- #VanLife (travel lifestyle)
- Composting toilet
- Blue Highways, by William Least Heat-Moon (1982 book)
- On the Road, by Jack Kerouac (1957 book)
- Travels With Charley, by John Steinbeck (1962 book)
- Vanagon (Volkswagen van)
- Volkswagen Westfalia (camper van)
- Trangia (alcohol-burning camp-stove)
- A (literal) photo album from my 1994 van vagabonding trip (blog post)
- 924 Gilman Street (Berkeley punk club)
- Northridge earthquake (1994 earthquake)
- “The Mystical High Church of Luck” (Salon essay about Las Vegas)
- Lollapalooza (music festival)
- O. J. Simpson murder case (1994 media incident)
- USCGC Northwind (Coast Guard icebreaker)
- Bourbon Street (historic street in New Orleans)
- The Geto Boys, by Rolf Potts (2016 book)
- Fifth Ward (Houston neighborhood)
- Cops (TV show)
- Canton (town in Mississippi)
- In His Steps (Mississippi Christian outreach ministry)
- Waffle House (southern restaurant chain)
- Savannah State (historically black university)
- Debbie Does Dallas (1978 pornographic film)
- Tompkins Square (New York park)
- St. Joseph’s Abbey (Massachusetts monastery)
- Trappists (order of Catholic monks)
- Thomas Merton (Trappist monk and writer)
- Memento Mori (existential expression)
- Chant (1994 Monks of Santo Domingo de Silos album)
- Compline (end-of-day church service)
Links regarding the final months of the 1994 trip:
- Ocala National Forest (protected area in Florida)
- Shenandoah National Park (Virginia wilderness area)
- Mount Washington (tallest mountain the northeast U.S.)
- Arches National Park (Utah wilderness area)
- Fisher Towers (photogenic cliffs near Moab, Utah)
- Desert Solitaire, by Edward Abbey (1968 book)
- Leaves of Grass, by Walt Whitman (1855 poetry collection)
- The Razor’s Edge, by W. Somerset Maugham (1944 book)
- Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert M Pirsig (1974 book)
- Uinta National Forest (protected area in Utah)
- Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming wilderness area)
- Glacier National Park (Montana wilderness area)
- Pike National Forest (protected area in Colorado)
The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber.
Note: We don’t host a “comments” section, but we’re happy to hear your questions and insights via email, at deviate@rolfpotts.com.